HOT PROCESS

COLD PROCESS

The flame spray process is basically the spraying of molten meterial onto a surface to provide a coating. Material in wire or powder form is melted in a flame (oxy-acetylene flame most common) and atomised using compressed air to form a fine spray. When the spray contacts the prepared surface of a substrate material, the fine molten droplets rapidly solidify forming a coating. This flame spray process carried out correctly is called a "cold process" (relative to the substrate material being coated) as the substrate temperature can be kept low during processing avoiding damage, metallurgical changes and distortion to the substrate material.

Benefits Of Thermal Spraying

• Comprehensive choice of coating materials: metals, alloys, ceramics, cermets and carbides.
  
• Thick coatings can be applied at high deposition rates.
  
• Coatings are mechanically bonded to the substrate—can often spray coating materials which are metallurgically incompatible with the substrate, e.g., materials with a higher melting point than the substrate.
  
• Components can be sprayed with little or no pre- or post-heat treatment, and component distortion is minimal.
  
• Parts can be rebuilt quickly and at low cost, and usually at a fraction of the price of a replacement.
  
• By using a premium material for the thermal spray coating, coated components can outlive new parts.
  
• Thermal spray coatings may be applied both manually and automatically.